TMC to hit streets against 'bulldozer politics', Mamata attacks BJP govt over hawker evictions

Seeking to rediscover its trademark politics of street mobilisation after being relegated to the opposition benches in West Bengal, the TMC on Tuesday decided to launch demonstrations against what it termed the BJP government's ''bulldozer culture'' and the alleged forcible eviction of hawkers from railway land and station areas.

The protests will be held on May 21 near Howrah, Sealdah and Ballygunge stations -- coinciding with the Falta assembly repoll.

The decision was taken after a meeting of TMC legislators at Kalighat, where former chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the newly elected BJP government over its ongoing demolition drives and anti-encroachment campaigns.

''Shops of small traders are being crushed with bulldozers. This government is making a mockery of our constitutional ideals and values,'' said a TMC MLA quoting Banerjee.

The decision to hold the protests was taken amid the BJP government's ''zero tolerance'' policy against illegal constructions and encroachments following the political transition in the state.

Since assuming office, the government has carried out demolition drives against alleged illegal structures in different parts of the state.

The authorities concerned have also initiated eviction drives on railway land, and at several stations under the Howrah and Sealdah divisions, where temporary settlements and encroachments were removed.

While the BJP has projected the drives as part of a governance and law-and-order overhaul, the opposition TMC has sought to frame them as coercive action disproportionately affecting the poor and vulnerable.

Political observers said the timing of TMC's protest announcement is significant.

The party that once built its rise through relentless street mobilisation and issue-based agitations has found itself unusually absent from protest sites since losing power in the recent assembly elections, they said.

Even during earlier demolition drives, including the Tiljala operation where bulldozers rolled in to raze alleged illegal structures, TMC leaders remained conspicuously absent from the ground, ceding protest space to rivals such as ISF and CPI(M).

As demolition drives spread across districts and anti-encroachment operations intensified on railway land, the party chose silence over street resistance.

The decision to finally hit the streets has also raised eyebrows as the protests are scheduled on the day when a repoll will be held in Falta, where TMC candidate Jahangir Khan's abrupt withdrawal handed the BJP fresh ammunition and left the opposition party battling political embarrassment.

The political observers said the agitation may help TMC shift attention away from the Falta setback and launch an ideological counteroffensive against the BJP government's governance narrative.

Yet questions persist over who will lead the charge on the streets.

The demonstrations may also become a test of whether the TMC can rediscover its old street-fighting instincts from the opposition benches.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)